1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector and in particular to an electrical connector capable of preventing from generating a short circuit.
2. Description of Prior Art
With the advancement of the electronic industry, electrical connectors have become more and more important. Thus, it is an increasing need to improve the performance of electrical connectors. Under the same condition, in order to increase the transmission efficiency of the electrical connector, a common solution in this art is to increase the number of terminals. However, since the mainboard becomes smaller and smaller, the available space for the electrical connector on the mainboard is decreased accordingly. Thus, it is necessary for the terminals to be arranged more densely, so that various designs of the electrical connectors are developed.
A conventional electrical connector at an earlier stage includes an insulating body provided with plural transverse and longitudinal rows of accommodating holes, and a plurality of terminals received in the accommodating holes respectively. Each of the terminals has a base received in the accommodating hole, an elastic arm extending upwards from the base with a portion thereof protruding from the accommodating hole, a contact portion provided at a distal end of the elastic arm, and a soldering portion extending downwards from the base. The front row of longitudinal accommodating holes is located in the same longitudinal direction as the adjacent rear row of accommodating holes.
The electrical connector allows a chip to be mounted therein. When the chip is mounted on the insulating body, the chip is pressed to contact the contacting portions of the terminals. Here, with regard to two adjacent terminals of the same longitudinal row, the elastic arms of the rear row of terminals are located above the elastic arms of the front row of terminals while the chip is conductively connected to the contact portions. However, such an electrical conductor has problems as follows. Since the terminals are arranged more densely in the electrical connector, the elastic arms of the front row of terminals will be brought into contact with the elastic arms of the rear row of terminals easily when the chip is pressed excessively with an improper operation. As a result, short circuit or interference of signals will be generated.
In view of the above problems, another kind of electrical connector is developed. The electrical connector includes an insulating body having plural rows of longitudinal and transverse accommodating holes. A plurality of terminals is received in the accommodating holes respectively. Each of the terminals has a base received in the accommodating hole, an elastic arm extending upwards and obliquely from the base to protrude partially outside of the accommodating hole, a contacting portion provided at a distal end of the elastic arm, and a soldering portion extending downwards from the base. The front row of the accommodating holes and the rear row of the accommodating holes are positioned in the same longitudinal direction.
The electrical connector allows a chip to be mounted thereon. When the chip is mounted on the insulating body, the chip is pressed to contact the contacting portions of the terminals. Here, with regard to the two adjacent terminals of the same longitudinal row, the elastic arms of the rear row of terminals are located between the elastic arms of the two adjacent terminals in the front row while the chip is conductively connected to the contact portions respectively. Although this kind of electrical connector avoids the problem of short circuit in the previous electrical connector, it still brings about some problems as follows.
(I) The elastic arm of the terminal extends obliquely from the base. Since the elastic arm has a larger elasticity, it may elastically swing. Further, the contact portion is located at the distal end of the elastic arm, so that the contact between the chip and the contacting portions may become poor when the chip is pressed to abut the contacting portions.
(II) Since the elastic arm of the terminal extends upwards and obliquely from the base, the adjacent terminals may still generate a short circuit due to an improper operation.
(III) If the volume of the terminal is maintained constant, the size of the accommodating hole cannot be reduced, thus, the terminals and the accommodating holes are still arranged in an array with longitudinal and transverse rows. In order to increase the transmission efficiency of the electrical connector, it is necessary to increase the number of the terminals and in turn the volume of the insulating body, thus, the space occupied by the electrical connector on the mainboard is inevitably increased.
(IV) When the chip is mounted on the insulating body, fasteners and heat sinks provided on the chip will totally exert a large force to the chip. Since the chip directly abuts the contacting portions of the terminals, the terminals may suffer damage or get fatigue more easily because there is no supporting means for the terminals. As a result, the electrical conductivity of the electrical connector is deteriorated greatly.
Thus, there is a need to develop a novel electrical connector in order to overcome the above problems.